


Modern

by Stariceling



Category: Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-07-04
Updated: 2004-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-05 10:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/722083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU for Eagle and Lantis in the modern world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Modern

**Author's Note:**

> This was written (along with one other fanfiction) as a bribe for a friend who adores Lantis/Eagle. I wanted to experiment with having these two in our world, so I guess they’ve been reborn.

“Eagle, wait. Let me get that,” Lantis grabbed the overnight bag and pulled it from his friend’s grip. He transferred it to his other hand so he could put one arm around Eagle’s shoulders, as if he expected him to collapse at any moment.

“Lighten up. I’m not an invalid or anything,” Eagle tried to joke.

“Yes you are,” Lantis argued in a softer tone of voice then he usually used with people, “they just let you out of the hospital.” He guided a now subdued Eagle into his small apartment. Usually he shared it with his brother, but Zagato was visiting his fiancé’s family, leaving enough room for Eagle to stay over.

“Do you want something to eat?” Lantis dropped Eagle’s overnight bag on the couch, but kept closer to his friend then he normally would. Lantis didn’t like to see Eagle looking like this. He was definitely paler from his long confinement indoors, and his body was unhealthily thin.

“I’m fine,” Eagle insisted, sitting down. Lantis followed him. For the past year all he could do for Eagle was hope. Now that he was awake and in his care Lantis was reluctant to leave his side for even a few moments, at least until they were able to locate his parents.

“Won’t I be imposing if I stay here?” Eagle wanted to know. His hands twisted, and Lantis realized he really had no idea what Eagle must be feeling right now. He had been in a coma for a little over a year before finally recovering, right when his parents had finally been convinced by friends and relatives that they should take a vacation to help them recover a bit. Lantis was only glad Eagle had been left in his care after their absence. He had missed his best friend very much.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Lantis assured him. He was no longer sure how to act around Eagle. He had to wonder what might have really happened to him in that accident. He had overheard something from the doctors before they had let him take Eagle home, something about an abnormal brain scan. He had to wonder just how much Eagle remembered about what had happened to him. He had told them that he had no memories of that day, but . . .

“Lantis?” Eagle waved a hand in front of his eyes, and Lantis realized he had spaced out.

“What?”

“What happened while I was out? Why can’t anyone tell me where my parents are?”

“Out backpacking somewhere. No one’s been able to contact them yet.” Eagle moved a little closer, leaning against Lantis’s shoulder.

“Did you miss me?” Lantis usually didn’t see Eagle looking so serious.

“Of course. You’re my best friend.” Eagle slumped against Lantis’s shoulder. Content or disappointed, Lantis couldn’t tell.

“Come here,” Lantis forced the tension settling between them out of his mind, “I won’t be happy until you’ve had something to eat.” As he left, supporting Eagle, Lantis noticed something strange. Every picture hanging on the walls around where they had been sitting was tilted.

“You still like sweets, don’t you? I made sure to get you some chocolate.” Lantis prompted, trying to get a smile out of Eagle. Behind him there was a ‘thud’ as one of the pictures fell.

Lantis couldn’t help looking back at it. The small still life Eagle had painted for him two years ago was lying on the floor. The glass protecting it was broken.

* * *

Later that night Lantis found he couldn’t sleep. His eyes kept straying to the picture set beside his bed. His family smiled out at him from the frame. Parents, brother, his uncles and his favorite aunt, Hikaru. He vividly remembered Zagato telling him that she was the one who had been so insistent about their names, even though he had been very young at the time. It had always seemed important to him, somehow.

But the family photo wasn’t the only thing he kept in that picture frame. Pulling it to him, Lantis turned it around and opened the back. Inside was a small black and white picture of Eagle, taken from their highschool yearbook. He didn’t look any different then he had every time Lantis had seen him today, except for one thing.

He was smiling. He had blinked during the picture, so his eyes were closed, but that only really increased the cuteness of his expression. He looked so carefree, the way Lantis remembered him. Eagle always had tried to take things in stride, because of what might happen if he got upset.

‘Accidents’ always seemed to happen around Eagle, especially when he was nervous or unhappy. Nearby glass objects might crack. The things around him fell, often breaking. Sometimes something smaller and more fragile, like a drinking glass, would explode. Lantis had even seen him implode a vase. At the time Eagle had been frustrated when Lantis refused to believe him about the things that happened around him. As they argued, the vase behind him had begun to crack, as if its sides were being drawn inward. It creaked, made a crunching noise, then collapsed in on itself with a snap.

Eagle couldn’t control what would happen. He couldn’t levitate anything or break down doors or any of the useful things that you might see in a movie, but Lantis believed him. They had become best friends starting from that fact. That was all that mattered.

Lantis reached for the other thing hidden inside the frame beside Eagle’s picture. A small scrap of paper, neatly folded and very worn. It looked like only a bit of trash, but it was his greatest secret. He smoothed it out gently, as it was so worn from being held that it might tear, and read the words again, as he had almost ever night since he received it.

Penned out in Eagle’s flowing, rounded handwriting was a simple message:

Lantis,

Please meet me tomorrow in the park behind school, by the clock tower. There is something I want to tell you before we graduate. At eleven I will be waiting for you. I will not be able to rest until I speak with you.

-Eagle

On the subway, somewhere on the way between Eagle’s home and the school . . . the accident. Lantis knew it was his own fault. He had been the one who let Eagle get hurt.

Did Eagle even remember what he had wanted to tell Lantis? Could Lantis really bear to hear?

Even as he tried to help Eagle, he still seemed so far away.

* * *

“Lantis, did I tell you anything before what happened?” Lantis almost choked as he tried to taste the soup that was supposed to be their dinner. Glass objects had been in peril if Eagle was around for several days now. They had done some shopping together, being almost out of food, and Eagle had broken a whole display window. It had happened when Lantis leaned in close, to check if he was running a fever. Eagle’s face had been flushed, and Lantis hadn’t known until later that he was just flustered.

“What do you mean?” Later Eagle had confessed that the ladies next to them in the checkout line thought they were a couple. The thought had made Lantis oddly uncomfortable.

“There’s something important I never got to do,” Eagle murmured, starting to cut up vegetables for their salad, just to keep his hands busy. “When I look at you I know there’s something I’ve forgotten. It just keeps distracting me.”

“Ah. Maybe if you go back to your normal routine it’ll come back to you.” Lantis hesitated, then added, “When are you going to start school again?” ‘I must tell you before we graduate.’ He thought.

“You’ve already started university, aren’t you?” Eagle sliced himself with the knife without noticing. A few drops of blood fell on the carrots he was cutting.

“Semester break.”

“It’s funny. I was really looking forward to graduating together. If we already have a whole year between us, will I ever be able to catch up?” One of the bulbs in the overhead light fixture broke.

“Let me see that,” Lantis took the knife from Eagle and pulled his hand closer so he could inspect the cut. Eagle tensed up. “Even if you lost a year, I know that’s not enough to drive us apart.” He said it as an offhand comment, but he was sure Eagle would get his meaning.

“I’ve been wanting to ask: Did I ever get to see you that day?” Lantis knew that this was what had been bothering Eagle for days. He hadn’t remembered any of the events that took place around his accident.

“No,” Lantis told him.

“There was something I wanted to tell you, but I wonder . . .” Eagle pulled his hand out of Lantis’s grip, “If you’ve changed in that time, maybe it’s not true anymore.”

“I’ll wait.” Lantis rubbed his hand over Eagle’s shoulder.

“Lantis?”

“Hm?” Lantis moved his hand up to trace a curve on Eagle’s cheek.

“Dinner’s burning.”

Lantis whirled in shock and tried to deal with the suddenly endangered soup. By the time he had gotten it under control Eagle was gone.

* * *

Over the next few days they relaxed around each other, bit by bit. Eagle’s condition had improved greatly, and Lantis now felt less worried for him as he began to smile more easily. One thing still bothered at the back of his mind, but it was only at night that he really had to think about it.

Over the last year it was a scene he had pictured over and over in his mind. When he had met Eagle he hadn’t really expected what was going to happen. He hadn’t understood why Eagle had asked to meet him in such a spot then, but now he understood perfectly. He hadn’t wanted to be overheard.

‘I think I’ve really fallen for you.’ Such unsure words for a confession that Lantis now realized he must have been completely sure of before he could work up the courage to tell his best friend. And Lantis had all but dismissed him. He had been entirely unwilling to accept Eagle’s affection. He hadn’t known how to respond, or how to keep from hurting him.

He had turned the events over and over in his head as he watched Eagle’s unresponsive face, waiting for him to wake up. He had looked so peaceful. Lantis now knew, it must have been because he had forgotten those words. He was dreaming of a day that they had already lived.

Slowly he had convinced himself back and forth, that he loved Eagle, or pitied him, or was disgusted with both Eagle and himself. He had let himself slowly warp as his memories faded and changed by watching Eagle’s sleeping face for hours on end. It was only now that Eagle was awake with him, and they were starting to get used to each other, that he knew.

He couldn’t be sure if it was the kind of love Eagle wanted, maybe he never would be sure, but he did know he would give it a chance. He loved Eagle enough to at least give him that. He had gotten a year to mature, and a second chance to be with his friend. This time he wouldn’t hurt Eagle.

‘Did I ever get to see you . . . ?’ He had asked. And Lantis had lied. Because it didn’t matter anymore. Because that day was over.

The answer had changed.


End file.
